At its recent 2022 Networking Days event in Uzwil, Switzerland, Bühler announced several key initiatives that focus on the changing protein landscape. The timing is crucial as approval for cultivated meat is likely to happen in key markets within the next 12 to 18 months after the successful Singapore approval of Good Meat’s cultivated chicken in 2020.
Demand for plant-based protein continues its climb in developed markets such as the U.S. and Europe, and in new markets including Asia and Latin America.
“We’re not against meat. We’re pro-choice and pro-solving problems,” said Ian Roberts, Bühler CTO.
To that end, the company is launching The Cultured Hub in Kemptthal near Zurich, which it says is nearly complete. It’s a joint venture between flavor giant Givaudan, Swiss supermarket giant Migros, and Bühler. The facility will support the acceleration of large-scale fermentation and cultivated food production.
“We want to accelerate fermentation and cultured meat by offering startups the opportunity to test their products earlier, and not have to invest in a huge facility to do so,” Roberts said.
“The challenges posed by climate change, increasingly depleted resources, and a growing global population expected to exceed 10 billion people by 2050 require a reimagination of our food system,” the company says on its website. “Sustainable food cultivation is key in meeting these challenges. Increased global customer demand for sustainably and ethically produced healthy, and tasty food products further substantiates the need for change.”
But for Bühler, it’s not just the controversial, complicated food tech of cultivated meat that’s on the table. In a partnership with Germany’s Flottweg SE, Bühler is working to accelerate plant-based products as demand rises, with an emphasis on protein isolates. Flottweg specializes in mechanical separation technology, a process Bühler says supports its production processes. This will accelerate the development of sustainable proteins.
It’s a move that Andreas Risch, Head of Business Unit Special Grains & Pulses at Bühler, says will increase offerings to its customers in the whole protein processing space, “in particular toward protein isolation but also for all the applications where a solid-liquid separation step might be required.”
